NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings after 2018 Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race
By Asher Fair
With just two races to go in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series regular season, how do the sport’s 30 full-time drivers stack up against one another?
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kurt Busch finally earned his first victory since he won the 2017 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway by winning the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, the 24th race of the 36-race 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, at Bristol Motor Speedway.
By winning this 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) Bristol Motor Speedway oval in Bristol, Tennessee in his #41 Ford, Busch ended a 58-race win drought, and he became the ninth different driver to win a race so far this season in doing so.
Of the nine drivers who have won at least one race so far this season, just four of them have won multiple races. Two of those drivers are Busch’s teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer, who have won seven races and two races so far this season, respectively.
The other two drivers who have earned multiple victories so far this season are Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, who has won six races so far this season, and Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who has won four races so far this season.
Aside of Kurt Busch, four other drivers have won exactly one race so far this season. Those drivers are Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, Team Penske’s Joey Logano, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott.
How did Busch’s first victory in nearly a year and a half and the rest of the action from the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race affect the NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings? Here are the formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings and the non-formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings following the 24th race of the season.
To see how the formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings are calculated, click here.